I’m Dr. Abby Jorgensen, assistant professor of sociology with a secondary appointment in health care ethics at Saint Louis University. My last name is pronounced with a hard J.
I’m a multimethodologist who studies family, health, gender, culture, and politics.
I love the beauty and intricacy of appropriate and healthy methods and their methodologies.
I am passionate about researching fertility intentions, perinatal loss, understandings of family/gender/children, and arguments about what role society and government should play in family life and vice versa.
And I live in St. Louis, MO, with my Danish-American family, a dog (Millie), and a cat (Benedict Cumbercat, whose story you can read here). We dearly miss our beloved six chickens (Wanda, Buffy, Galadriel, Padme, Beverly, and Dolores), whom we had to leave behind in a recent move, and we are looking to start a new flock soon.
I earned my PhD in Sociology (with a minor in Gender Studies) in 2023 from the University of Notre Dame. In my time under the Golden Dome, I was a University Writing Center Graduate Tutor, Notebaert Fellow, and Kellogg Institute Affiliate. I also won the University’s Social Justice Award in 2022, for my community work with expecting parents.
In addition to my academic work, I also work as a childbirth educator, a birth and bereavement doula, and the director of Haven Bereavement Doulas. You can learn more about my birthwork here.
My book, A Catholic Guide to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss, was released by Ave Maria Press in April 2024. You can learn more about the book here.
Before converting to sociology, I earned a Bachelor of Arts in both Political Science and Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame with a minor in Theology.